A flat flexible circuit conventionally includes an elongated flat flexible dielectric substrate having conductors, such as laterally spaced conductor strips, on one or both sides thereof. The conductors may be covered with a thin,, flexible protective layer on one or both sides of the circuit. If protective layers are used, cutouts are formed therein to expose the underlying conductors at desired contact locations where the conductors are to engage the conductors of a complementary mating connecting device which may be a second flat flexible circuit, a printed circuit board or the terminals or contacts of a mating connector.
A wide variety of connectors have been designed over the years for terminating or interconnecting flat flexible circuits with complementary mating connecting devices. For instance, the flat circuit may be terminated to a plug connector or a receptacle connector, and that connector is connectable with a complementary mating receptacle or plug connector. One of the problems with employing mating connectors is the ever-increasing manufacturing costs of such connecting devices which require two complete connectors at each connecting interface. Another problem involves the ever-increasing miniaturization of electronic circuitry and the space limitations within which mating connectors must be accommodated. Still another problem involves the ever-increasing density of the conductors on a flat flexible circuit and the increasing number of terminals in the connector. It is difficult to maintain sufficiently high contact pressure between the terminals of a pair of connectors and the respective conductors of a pair of circuits. The present invention is directed to solving this myriad of problems in terminating flat flexible circuitry.